Live for Life
by Krapi
Summary: 2 years have passed since Sakura was kidnapped by Kabuto. She was constantly experimented on and later caused her to become pregnant, IVF, by an unknown Sasuke. How will this young mom cope when she finally meets 'daddy?.R&R!
1. Imprinted image

**Live for Life**

_'You know the door to my very soul_

_You're the light in my deepest darkest hour_

_You're my saviour when I fall'-- Take that_

* * *

Alone.

_When you try your best, but don't succeed._

Where has Naruto's never-ending will, Tsunade's strength, and Kakashi-sensei's passion gotten her?

_When you get what you want, but not what you need._

No-where.

_When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep._

Still weak, useless, and **annoying**. She can't defend herself; never mind the others.

_Stuck in reverse._

But, the only thing that is holding her together--

_And the tears come streaming down your face,_

The only thing she lives for--

_When you lose something you can't replace._

Her baby boy.

_When you love someone but it goes to waste._

Who, to be blunt, had been an "experiment" gone wrong.

_Could it be worse?_

* * *

A loud explosion echoed through the narrow streets of Cloud country.

Children were crying, tourists had been fleeing, and _everyone_ was screaming. It was all Sakura could hear or see at that moment. She instinctively alerted her senses and dashed to the first place that came to mind.

Her _home _for the past two years.

Sakura dodged the many bodies flying in her general direction; she didn't know what the hell could possibly be going on, and she didn't care. Her only priority was to keep_ him_ safe. Sakura ignored the swarm of sound village headbands rushing the streets while she skid to a stop, arriving at her destination.

Slamming the door open, the pink topped kunoichi rushed inside of her frighteningly quiet home.

"Satoshi-kun?!" she'd shouted while peeking inside of his bedroom.

Now in the living room, "Satoshi?!"

"Sato-" Sakura paused, her emerald eyes widening with complete shock and horror.

There lay her colleague, May, bloodied and bruised. Aged hazel eyes began to glaze over, body shaking in pure terror. Sakura noticed May's fragile chapped lips break apart; trying to find the correct words to say before she were to become unconscious.

"S-Sakura, I'm… So s-sorry…" May was doing anything she could to keep conscious, however she knew she was losing the battle. "I… Did the best t-that I… Could, to make them n-not take him..."

Sakura had kneeled quickly to her side and placed her hands over May's most serious injuries. A pretty green glow shadowed the medics hands; the healing process had begun. Unfortunately, Sakura hadn't used her chakra in a long time and could only partially heal her aged friend. None the less, May was exceptionally grateful.

"May," Sakura panicked. "Please tell me where they took him- I need to bring him back!"

Just before becoming unconscious, May used her last bit of strength to point towards Gorodii forest. But even before the older woman's hand had fallen limp to the floor, the ex-apprentice was long gone.

* * *

_Lights will guide you home,_

Sakura didn't recognize the strength she seemed to gain while she leaped between branches from tree to tree. The kunoichi went deeper and deeper into what had seemed more of a jungle than a forest.

She'd lost her footing repeatedly, but each time, she'd pick herself up with a huff and start again like nothing had ever happened in the first place.

Why did Naruto's, 'never-ending will' start to kick in now, of all circumstances?

_And ignite your bones,_

Sakura's beautiful porcelain skin was being battered constantly; the branches continued to whack, scratch, and poke her quite painfully. She looked like she had been dragged through a thorn bush and backwards, but she didn't care. All that mattered was to find her son-- And that's when she'd felt it.

She had felt a little spark of chakra that had to be Satoshi…!

_And I will try to fix you_

Sitting on a rather high tree branch, Sakura had been trying to control her breathing while observing the many men that seemed to be guarding those already captured. Or, rather, _were _ was aware it would be impossible to free everyone, and so she averted her emerald calculating eyes to her son, Satoshi.

Using a few quick hand signs, Sakura had transported directly behind her little one and a half year old boy. It only took a few more hand signs and she moulded into the tree beside her, looking as though she were a normal tree branch attachment.

Sakura waited twenty torturous minutes to find the perfect moment to grab her son and make a run for it. She'd grasped the moment when a guard went to a large group -where a fight had broken out amongst the captured- and grabbed her baby. The young mother sprinted into the secluded forest; not even bothering to look back.

It was only a matter of time before they would catch up to her.

After running at least several miles, Sakura still hadn't found the ending to the ridiculous forest she was stuck in. Things had gone from bad to worse when Satoshi had begun crying loudly while being held in Sakura's loving arms. Being his mother, of course she'd heard her son cry before- but this was completely different. The baby she held close was terrified. Usual attempts to calm him down were proven futile; he was just much too scared.

Sakura begged, "Shh…! Please, _please… _Just calm down!"

Like she'd done so many times before, Sakura began to rock the infant gently back and forth in her arms. He'd calmed down slightly, but luckily, it was still enough to relieve Sakura. Sensing the exit to the forest came to her quickly and she'd made a hurried dash for it, only to collide into something, or rather, _someone_.

"Ugh… Oh my fucking God!" a red-head shrieked, "Look where you're going, bitch!"

"Move-! I have no time for this! " the woman with the flower-pedal-pink hair replied with a tone of warning.

The red-head said in a superior way, "Apologize first and I may think about letting you go."

" DAMNIT, I SAID _MOVE!_" Sakura had shouted, while putting Satoshi out of harms way and drawing back her fist, only to land it forcefully upon the red-head woman's face. A loud crunching noise had traveled to all surrounding ears- Sakura had broken this woman's nose; not even using the monstrous strength she was blessed with.

Clap, clap, clap.

"Whoa. Karin, pinkie kicked your ass without even breaking out in a sweat!" a voice teased from the bushes just before a man popped out- he was definitely around her age. He had razor sharp teeth, and not to mention his clothes were equipped with _water bottles_.

Sakura came to the conclusion that he used water type jutsu's. This could provide as quite a problem for her; and plus the angered Karin looked like she wanted to claw Sakura's eyes out with a plastic spoon.

'_What a pain…' _She thought.

Wait. _Karin? _Where was it she'd heard that name before…? A man with _razor _sharp teeth… Su… Sushi…?

No!

_Suigetsu!_... Team Hebi…!

It had slowly dawned upon Sakura that if those two strangers really were a part of team Hebi, then that meant _he _was there. Dread filled her entire being and she came accustomed that _he _was around there somewhere; probably observing every little thing she did with un-imaginable detail.

Doing the only thing she could think of at the moment, Sakura hoisted a now crying Satoshi on her hip and attempted to run from the clearing. While doing this, Karin stuck out her foot, which resulted in the young mother tripping; causing the baby to fly out of her strong arms, and towards somewhere unknown.

That's when it happened.

The cryinghad _ceased_.

Sakura stumbled and hurried to her feet while her blurry eyes tried to focus. She slowly lifted her head to see what caused her son to stop crying, and the image left her in complete shock… There _he_ was; standing in all his glory.

Uchiha Sasuke.

She loathed him.

How can something so wrong look so right? Her infant son was in the arms of that traitorous bastard; someone so utterly devoted to revenge and hatred, someone that betrayed their friends and teammates, only to run off to Orochimaru?

So _why_?

Why did it look so perfect?

Their hair color and eyes had matched almost perfectly; despite the green tint Satoshi had in his pupils. The strong dominant jaw line, which was absolutely identical, held such strong and gentle features. And the skin, in which was so pale it'd made them both seem angelic, made them look just like the father and son they were; only Sasuke didn't know it.

And he would _never_ know.

Sakura couldn't help but stare with a haunted expression at the way her son snuggled against the warmth of Sasuke's neck. He looked so comfortable, so safe. And the Uchiha seemed to hold the infant as though he were the most precious piece of china. Sasuke looked as though his heart would break into a million pieces if he had to let Satoshi go.

Sakura trembled.

This is how it's supposed to be.

_High up above or down below,_

_When you're too in love to let it go._

_But if you never try you'll never know,_

_Just what you're worth._

"Sakura."

Her thoughts halted when a sharp pain spread throughout the back of her neck. Her vision began to blur, and the world around her became surrounded in darkness. Before she slipped out of consciousness, Sakura would always remember the ever-lasting imprinted image of Uchiha Sasuke and their child staring right back at her.

* * *

End of chapter one :) Reviews would be love!

_Much thanks to Blueyedblonde, the awesome beta for this story!_


	2. Arigatou

** Live For Life**

_' I've been roaming around always looking down at all I see_

_Painted faces fill the places I can't reach.'- Kings of Leon_

* * *

Her face met with the cold stone floor, making her wince in pain from an earlier attack that was located on her slender neck. Immediately she fluttered her eyes open, absorbing the surroundings—noticing that few candles dimly lit the small damp room—which was surprising to her, she thought she was going to open her eyes to complete darkness. There was a faint dripping noise coming from the darkest corner of the room which started to grate on her nerves, it wasn't a constant drip thankfully, but seeing as she's in a dark room with only herself in it, it's hard not to notice.

She snapped her head up when a piercing scream was heard next door. "Where the fuck am I?" she hissed to herself.

The screaming continued—to her discomfort—till she heard a faint thump. _'Dead' _she thought grimly.

Sakura nervously rubbed her aching neck when she thought about what those monsters were doing to the defenceless people. Well pacifically what those monsters would do to her or her boy, if they ever get a hold of them.

'_Satoshi!'_

The ex-kunoichi stumbled to her feet and ran for the door, but she was only able to run a couple of metres before mind-blowing pain erupted from her chest, forcing her to her knees as she clutched her chest in agony. Her emerald eyes widened and darted to the corner of the room, when a sadistic chuckle came from the darkness.

She bit her lip in order to suppress the scream that was aching at the back of her throat. The man chuckled again and emerged out of the shadows, making her slowly back away to the far wall when she recognised who it was.

"Why, Sakura-chan, you're in sound of course."

'_Orochimaru!' _

Her body froze when he said her name, he actually remembers her? Or did he have to google someone with pink hair and green eyes?

She did not know.

"H-How did you know my name?" she convinced herself that she stuttered because of the cold and _not_ that she was scared shitless of this man. Her answer was met with another sinister chuckle.

Green eyes slammed shut when his tongue darted out of his mouth to slightly stoke her smooth skin. She cringed at the sensation and felt utterly disgusted by it. The man was as old as Tsunade-shisou, maybe even older than the great Hokage, this freaked her out immensely, now even though Sakura had her own child she still had a virgin mind and him doing this made her squirm at his vulgarity.

"How could I forget the final member of team 7 hmm?" he finally returned his tongue into his own mouth and came close to her. "It seems that you're the only normal one in the group."

She inwardly seethed at the insult.

His laugh echoed the walls when her eyes flickered in anger when he grabbed her chin, his cold hands roughly lifted her head so that his snake-like orbs locked onto her innocent ones. The temperature felt like it dropped a couple of degrees when their eyes met, complete opposites staring back at each other and this thought alone amused him to no end.

She was the first one to look away—eyes wondering to the floor—her next question made her insides turn in a mixture of fear and pure curiosity, their close proximity made her breath slightly fan his face as she whispered.

"Why am I here? Where is the boy I was taking care of?"

The answer of the latter question was the one she was desperately trying to find out.

"No need to worry, the boy is in safe hands," the snake man's smirk slightly made the statement less believable "But, you on the other hand, may not be so safe." He paused to look at her. "You seek freedom, do you not?"

Her silence gave him the answer, his hand left her chin.

"Then join my family Haruno."

Her answer was immediate. "I will _never _betray Konoha!" she spat aggressively.

The sound leader shook his head and smirked, making his way to the steel door. His back faced her when he called out to her. "I knew you were going to say that, how about I give you some time to think about it? For now I will leave you a parting gift, which I'm sure, will sway your decision."

Orochimaru exited the room and as soon as the door slammed shut, pain exploded in her chest for the second time that day. She bit her lip so hard that it split open, pain shot through her veins when the constricting sensation increased ten fold, her eyes watered, on the verge of crying. She slumped to the floor, shaking, clutching her chest, pleading for the pain to go away.

After only a minute of torture she cried, loud sobs escaping her lips, tears pouring out of her eyes, making the cut on her lip sting. Another wave of pain rattled her system, it was like it was simulating a heart attack over and over again, but this time it was turned to its highest notch, and she finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

A blood curdling scream erupted from her lips.

* * *

Team Hebi's actions stopped immediately—except for Satoshi who was gingerly playing with Sasuke's katana, awed by the weapon—Karin was the first one to speak up, startling the others at the sound of someone breaking the silence.

"_Who _the hell was that?" She was astonished that someone could scream that loud.

Suigetsu eyed the red head at her stupidity. "Isn't it obvious? It's a prisoner, dummy."

Karin glared at the shark man and used her index finger to push her glasses to the bridge of her nose. "I know that! If you actually listened I was asking who—"

Juugo quietly interrupted her. "It was the girl we captured earlier."

All members looked at him silently—even Sasuke. Their eyes asking him the same question.

_How did you know that?_

A small bird perched onto his large shoulder, fluttering its wings to steady itself. Juugo gently petted the small creature with a small smile and spoke to the group. "The animals tell me everything."

Satoshi looked at Juugo in amazement and grinned, no, more like beamed up at the large man, clapping his hands—which gained the groups attention—and pointed at the pretty bird. His bangs got in the way of his sight, so he puffed his cheeks and blew them away from his dark orbs, which involuntary made Karin melt to the floor with his cuteness.

The little man drew his eyebrows together in worry for the lady, so he carefully waddled towards her, avoiding the many legs that got in his way and clumsily stood infront of her, he gently cupped her face in his tiny hands and made a loud noise in his throat, as if he were asking if she was okay.

Suigetsu blinked in bewilderment at the kid and reassured him. "Hey little man, she's gonna be okay, she always does these kind of things." Satoshi glanced at Suigetsu with big eyes and grinned in relief; he removed his hands from Karin and made his way to back Sasuke's shiny katana.

Unfortunately he didn't make it very far, because slim arms wrapped round his small body, pulling him in to a moderately big chest. He made a small noise of protest when he was finding it hard to breathe when Karin bear hugged him.

"He is just so adorable!" she squealed in excitement.

Tears prickled the small boy's eyes when hardly any air was reaching his lungs, he now made a big protest and tried to squirm away from her, thankfully a voice stopped her actions.

"Karin, release him, he can't breathe." Sasuke ordered.

"Oops, sorry Sasuke-kun." She let go of him as he blinked his tears away, thankful that he could breathe again.

Once he regained his composure he turned around to face Sasuke, who was looking sceptically at him. The small man beamed up at him—which made the Uchiha raise a fine eyebrow—and waddled towards him, smiling appreciatively.

"A-awigatou." Satoshi said, looking up at Sasuke because he was sitting on a big chair.

Karin melted to the floor again when she heard the way he spoke.

To seal the deal he reached into his minute pocket and picked out a perfectly wrapped truffle, extending his arm so that Sasuke could accept the small gift. The sharingan wielder eyed the truffle warily and looked at the child, not wanting to upset the boy he accepted and stuck his arm out to take the gift.

"Arigatou." He grunted.

Satoshi grinned widely and attempted to climb on Sasuke's lap, which failed miserably because of how small he was. Tears threatened to fall when he made a noise of frustration, why is he so small? It's not fair! He tried to lift his leg to find the grove of the chair so he could climb up, but it was no use.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes at the boy's feeble attempts and mumbled "Come 'ere" he grabbed Satoshi and lifted him onto his lap, making him smile with glee. The child's raven hair flopped infront of his eyes again so he puffed out his cheeks to blow the annoying hair out of his sight; he looked at Sasuke and sent him a cat-like grin, showing him that he was okay.

He got himself comfortable and nuzzled his face into Sasuke's chest; his small hands gripped his shirt and yawned sleepily, dark green eyes drooping till they finally closed. His even breathing signalled that he was asleep.

And the rest of team Hebi could only look on, with mouths agape.

* * *

Her heavy breathing was the only noise coming from her cell, the pain subsided and her brain screamed for rest, her muscles and joints locking painfully. She rolled over slowly to face the door and blew her pink tresses away from her glowing green orbs, her teeth gritted in annoyance at how weak she looked at this moment.

She couldn't even move properly and her chakra was next to nothing.

However she wasn't one to give up and the chakra she had at the moment was enough to get rid of what's fucking up her system. The pain always emerges from her chest so she guessed that her best bet was to start on her chest. She closed her eyes to focus her chakra to her chest area and the muscle and tissue around it, her eyes opened when she gave a vague idea on what the problem was.

_A chakra based poison. _

She now wished that Shizune was here, the poison expert would have been a great help to her in ridding this monstrosity. Sakura was no expert in poisons but she knew that she'd need an antidote to get rid of it, she guessed that the chakra that was mixed with the poison was some kind of activation device that could turn on and off the effects of it like a button.

Right now she could get rid of the foreign chakra so that the poison would become less harmful to her. She'd deal with the poison later.

Green chakra was pumped into Sakura's muscles so that she could sit up carefully; she placed a slightly shaken hand to her chest and located all the abnormal chakra. Her eyes squeezed shut as pain soared through her body as she took the evil essence out of her system.

As the last of it was removed, she sunk to floor, her chakra now down to zero. Her eyes settled to the steel door that seemed to be her only escape of this hell hole, she dully noted that the dripping noise came back, making her roll her eyes in annoyance. But right now all she wanted to do was rest, so ignoring the dripping sound, she let her eyes close before she was engulfed in darkness.

Her next mission, to see her boy.

* * *

end of chap 2, hope y'all liked it. The update for this story will be slow because my laptop is not fixed, so I will have to be using library computers and my sisters laptop till early February till I get a new one T^T

This effects my other stories aswell :(

Read and review please :)


	3. Two Days

**Live For Life**

_'Some try to hand me money they don't understand,_

_I'm not broke...I'm just a broken hearted man.'-The Script_

* * *

Blinking slowly, the Uchiha awoke from his light slumber when he heard small whimpers coming from the large window in his dimly lit room. He rolled over on to the opposite side of the bed to check the time—it read 2:47 am—what the hell woke him up so early? Carefully he slid out of his white sheets and shivered slightly when his bare feet connected to the cold floor, he stretched, making pops and cracks in his back which somehow felt good to him.

He numbly scratched his bare chest and turned to face the window, eyes widening when he saw the small boy look longingly at the outside world. Sasuke tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, how did he manage to get inside of his room?

No one, not even Kabuto could get inside of his room easily; it was locked with his chakra signature so that people he deemed dangerous or suspicious couldn't come in without his permission.

This would work, unless he subconsciously thought that the boy was no threat to him, which kind of made sense, he's a small child. Of course he's no threat.

Sasuke slowly padded towards the boy and placed a hand on his small head, gently weaving his raven locks through his fingers. Startled, the boy jumped and squealed in surprise at the contact; big tear-filled eyes looked up at the bigger man, while the moonlight illuminated his baby features and showed a glimpse of visible tears that streaked down his face.

The onyx eyed male furrowed his brows at Satoshi when he saw him wipe away his tears sloppily, desperate to not show weakness.

Sasuke couldn't believe he was asking this. "What's wrong?" There was no immediate answer, he wasn't even sure if the little guy could talk properly.

Timidly in response, Satoshi pressed his face onto the cold glass and used his fingers to loosely trail random shapes; he grumbled something un-audible into the window.

"…?"

"O-oka-san" Satoshi mumbled coyly, looking up.

"You want your oka-san?" Sasuke repeated gruffly.

The little man nodded slowly and stuffed his free hand into his jean pockets and picked out a photograph. By now he stopped doodling on the glass and held the photo with both hands, clutching it close to his heart, smiling softly. Soon after he clumsily kissed the picture and handed it to Sasuke.

Both eyebrows were raised. _'It's…Sakura'_

His ex-teammate was alone with a serene expression on her face, sitting cross-legged in a grassy field, surrounded by cherry blossoms, not looking at the camera, but had her outstretched hand about to pick some kind of flower. She was wearing a white sundress that flowed to her knees that seemed to burst with innocence.

_'I do wonder why I'm not surprised.'_

He looked at her son, then back at the photo again and frowned. The boy didn't look like her at all—except for the emerald hue to his eyes and that's about it, so he must take after his father. Probably someone that rivalled his own looks, he wasn't being arrogant, just plainly obvious that he is one of the un-lucky people that have moderately good looks with a horde of fan-girls that _had_ to declare it all the time.

Sasuke looked at him again. "What's your name?"

The child scrunched his nose at the question, clearly confused. Sasuke sighed tiredly and pointed at himself— with Sakura's picture still in hand.

"Sasuke." He pronounced stiffly.

"Sa…suke." Satoshi repeated slowly, pointing at Sasuke, who nodded towards him. Cleverly in return the small boy pointed at himself and grinned widely.

"Sa-to-shi!" He exclaimed happily, clapping his hands.

"Hn." A ghost of a smirk traced Sasuke's lips, mildly impressed at how smart the boy was at his age, he guessed he must have inherited it from Sakura, seeing as she was the brains of cell 7.

He carefully handed the photo back to Satoshi, who shoved it hastily back into his pocket, looking expectantly at Sasuke.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes and picked up Satoshi—receiving a small outburst and allowed him to wrap his tiny arms securely round his bare neck. He grunted at the foreign weight and adjusted his loose black pants, grudgingly walking towards the door.

"Hn, let's go see your oka-san."

* * *

Sakura wiped the newly formed sweat that poured from her forehead; the cramped cell was un-naturally hot, when only half an hour ago it was deathly cold. It's either Orochimaru's doing or she's gaining a fever.

She guessed the latter one, seeing that Orochimaru is too tight with his money to get central heating.

That evil bastard.

Pulling her knees to her chest, Sakura closed her eyes to escape the nausea she was feeling, she would have to grit her teeth and bare the fever for now, wasting chakra on a small sickness was a big no, no. She blew her pink tresses away from her face and revelled in the coolness of her breath, making her temperature drop for a split second.

Her mind slowly drifted towards Satoshi. She missed him _so_ much, _too _much; all she wanted was him in her arms, far away from this place. She wanted to see his smile that could easily light up any room. Most of all, she wanted him to be _safe_, sound was the furthest place she could of imagined to be safe, the whole village was corrupt and full of dangerous criminals.

No one could be trusted, not even Sasuke.

'_Who knows what sound turned him into?' _

She inwardly shivered at the thought, the last encounter she had with him—not including the one three days ago—was when he tried to kill her, Naruto, Sai and Yamato, with his improved chidori, she refused to say team 7 because in her mind, team 7 crashed and burned the day Sasuke left her on a stone cold bench.

Her eyes were still closed tightly, remembering how emotionless Sasuke was when he attempted to kill his ex-teammates, a mere shell of his former self. Truthfully she couldn't help but feel a small fraction of herself be frightened of the man he is today. Being the apprentice of a sadistic snake sannin is sure to sway ones outlook on life, bringing pain to the world instead of peace.

Thoughts froze momentarily when the steel cell door began to open; she abruptly stood up and opened her eyes, a new wave of nausea washing through her body. She shook off the nausea and crouched low, ready to pounce. As the door opened fully, she charged, bringing back her fist so it could launch into the un-known.

She stilled immediately when her eyes lit up in recognition, her fist was frozen, now inches away from his—regrettably—beautiful face. He glared at her idea of a welcoming and brushed her fist away un-caringly, still glaring. Sakura's green orbs ripped away from Sasuke's and locked onto the small boy that was clutching onto Sasuke's bare chest, his face was hidden in the crook of the Uchiha's neck.

She didn't bother to hold back the relief that spread across her features.

"Satoshi!"

Said boy, lifted his head and slowly blinked his dark green eyes, looking at the person that called him, Sasuke silently handed a beaming Satoshi to Sakura—much to her surprise.

"Oka-san!" Satoshi cried in happiness.

He wrapped his arms tightly round her and showered her with sloppy kisses. She laughed whole-heartedly and hugged her child tightly, so relieved that he was safe. Sasuke was un-moving in stunned silence as Sakura twirled Satoshi around in circles making him squeal in delight. He turned his head away from them, feeling no-doubt uncomfortable, like he was intruding on something he was never suppose to see or experience in his lifetime.

After a couple more minutes, Sakura looked towards the door and remembered that Sasuke was still there, she cursed silently in her head.

"Sasuke." She acknowledged for the first time.

He waited a few moments before he turned to face her; he took the time to take a good look at his ex-teammate. The first thing he noticed was how un-well she looked; her hair was matted and clung to her face from the sweat that constantly glistened her skin. His eyes travelled to her shapely legs, where he saw the dirt that had accumulated on her knees and thighs, he assumed that she spent most of time in sound on the grubby floor. As he shifted his gaze a little higher, he grunted at himself and chose to focus his eyes on what she was wearing. Tattered pieces of—what he guessed was a jumpsuit met his eyes and became mystified on who's bright idea was to make all sound slaves wear it, when they could of just stayed in their own comfortable clothes, the itchy brown material looked irritable and the gaping holes in the cloth didn't help to cover her legs properly.

"…" His cold eyes met hers.

Sakura shifted slightly at his gaze and lifted Satoshi so that his weight could sit on her other hip; her eyes narrowed at his silent reply and bit the inside of her cheek at the un-easy silence, she took in his form and blushed that she just noticed that Sasuke was shirtless. Meanwhile, Satoshi snuggled his head into Sakura's chest and began to sleep, a warm smile tugging at his lips.

She shook her head and started towards her only escape. It all happened so fast, she couldn't even blink before she was on the floor, Satoshi out of her arms and into Sasuke's.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" She hissed as curses flew from her mouth when she rubbed her now sore butt. "This is our only chance to escape! If you just…" the rest of her sentence became incoherent, it was mostly about a plan she conducted in the time she spent here, going into mindless details about if he just moved out of the way they would have been safe by now.

Sasuke cut through her annoying rambles. "Two days, Sakura." He left no room for argument and silently exited the cell—with Satoshi, closing the steel door with a swift click.

"Wait—!"

It was too late, they were gone.

* * *

Satoshi was still silently sleeping in Sasuke's arms as they both travelled down the decrepit halls, he went through boundless twist and turns that he memorized on the first day he entered sound, where people who've lived here all their life, still get lost.

It was still early morning, but this didn't stop the handful of people that stalked the hallways at ridiculous hours on the strict orders from Kabuto, the snake sannin's own personal bitch.

"Sasuke-sama." A sound shinobi greeted obediently, bowing deeply.

The Uchiha grunted at the gesture and strolled past him, annoyed at how whipped everyone was here. He didn't want this kind of attention, nor did he deserve it. He turned a couple of more corners, bows and all, and entered his chamber, glad that he was alone.

He took a quick glance at the boy in his tired arms.

Ok, so he wasn't _completely _alone, but thankfully Satoshi was less annoying than his mother.

As he closed his chamber door, he became un-decided on what to do with the kid. He could take him back to his room, but no doubt he would come waddling back somehow, making his day a little more troublesome to deal with. His emotionless orbs scanned his dormant bed and narrowed his eyes in to slits, there was no way he was going to let an insignificant little boy take his bed, so he thought of the next best thing.

He stalked towards his bathroom suite, collecting a spare grey blanket on his way and eyed his bathtub warily; he assumed that this was better than the hard floor. With one of his hands he laid out the blanket in the tub, settling Satoshi into it immediately after, the boy made a noise of protest at the sudden disappearance of Sasuke's body heat and slowly drifted back into deep slumber.

Sasuke flickered his eyes to Satoshi when he noticed that he was shivering, so he quickly grabbed the corners of the blanket and carefully wrapped it around Satoshi's body, not wanting to wake him. The shivering ceased and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at the content smile that lit up the child's features.

He left the bathroom and crawled back into his bed, eyes fluttering shut as soon as his head hit the pillow.

_Two Days._

_

* * *

_

End of chapter 3 :) I did say the updates would be slow, so sorry if people have been waiting long for this, Febuary is soon guys :) I can now smell my new computer it's so close tehehehe.

Thank you for everyone that has reviewed, faved, alerted. I'm very grateful, keep 'em coming yes?

Special thanks to **StOrM iS mY pOwEr **who gave me thoughts on what to do for this chappie...READ and REVIEW :D


	4. Misunderstood

**Live for Life**

_'Oh, the truth hurts, a lies worse _

_How can I give anymore?_

_When I love you a little less than before?- James morrison_

* * *

The two days were over before they even began, with no windows and no sense of time, the days flew by without realising and the daunting feeling that rained over Sakura's head had now settled to the bottom of her stomach, making her more un-settled than before.

She slid to the grubby floor, head down, arms resting limply on her knees and exhaled slowly through her nose. Her patience was slowly slipping, what irked her most was Sasuke's vagueness, what was going to happen after the two days were up? Would she and Satoshi escape? Would something happen to them? Would Orochimaru have his wicked way with her?

The final suggestion was sure to traumatize someone for life.

Sakura lifted her head to rest it on the damp walls; she shifted slightly and regretted it immediately as pins and needles shot through her arms and legs. Her fingers and toes flexed on their own accord and relieved the numbed muscles, letting chakra flow through to soothe aching joints.

Her chakra replenished over a day ago and this was troubling, seeing that she _could _have escaped by now with all fists blazing. But she had no idea where Satoshi was and if she had any chance of escaping she would have to be sly about it. So waiting around was the plan for now and she hated it. She was dirty, she smelt and she was hungry.

Oh Kami she was hungry.

At the moment she was living on two bowls of oatmeal a day that always left a tangy taste in her mouth. Of course she checked for poison—which came out negative and came to the conclusion that either she was a crappy medic and couldn't tell the difference between poison and water _or _sound had no idea that oatmeal is suppose to _not_ taste like sandpaper.

'_Actually, it's about time that the food was supposed to be delivered, what's the hold up?' _she thought openly.

As if someone was answering her thoughts a sharp knock came from the steel door—making her jump and barely a second later a black clad shinobi strolled into her cell, greeting her stiffly.

"Haruno-san, Orochimaru-sama seeks your presence."

What? Where's the oatmeal?

Is this what Sasuke was talking about?

Sakura nodded her head slowly towards the shinobi—letting her bangs hide her face as she resisted the gag that choked at the back of her throat. The thought of being in the same room as the snake sannin made her want to vomit, the man—if you could call him that was sure to make her life a living misery; his futile attempts to make her join sound would only prolong her suffering. She pondered on the punishment for refusing.

Death? Well, so be it. If she was going down, then she'd be taking him down with her.

"I'm ready." She said to herself, but the guard nodded anyway and turned to leave so that she could follow. As she stood, her back arched and made her matted hair fall from her shoulders—she noticed that the sound ninja was already out of the door, so she made quick strides to keep up with him, and mentally cursed at her lack of height.

The twist and turns were already grating on her nerves, the narrow damp walls were plain and boring, there was no windows—OR clocks for that matter and she was hesitant to admit that she missed her little grubby cell. Left, right, right, right, left and right again is what she dully noted, her mind made easy work of the pathway to Orochimaru's chamber and had no doubt that if she took a quick glance of a complete layout of sound, then she could know this place inside and out like the back of her hand.

The guard stopped suddenly at a pair of gold encrusted double doors, the ex-kunoichi would have bumped into him if it wasn't for her sharp reflexes, so instead she stepped to his side, eyeing the doors with narrowed eyes.

If he could afford gold encrusted doors, then where the hell is the _central heating?_

"Bastard." She mumbled, he probably got one of his lackeys to steal these doors!

It didn't look like that the sound guard heard her as he knocked three times on the shiny metal and entered the chamber, bowing as soon as the sound leader was in sight.

"Orochimaru-sama, I have brought the prisoner as requested." As this was said, Sakura walked straight into the snakes' lair, her head held high as her forest green eyes quickly scanned the large hall before settling on Orochimaru, he was a good sixty meters away from her, sitting on a ridiculously high throne-like chair, eyeing everyone like he was above them all—technically, he was.

She noticed that a small number of sound troops were scattered around the space—including Sasuke and his…_team_. Satoshi was placed in the guarded arms of a red-head that she remembered punching earlier, he looked un-settled and worried, but never once struggled out of the woman's arms, as if he felt the impending doom that was sure enough to head her way. Sasuke's body language didn't help either, his mouth was set into a grim line and his eyes were blank, refusing to look at his ex-teammate. Sakura knew that face very well. Something in his plans must have back-fired.

Sakura distracted herself by running her fingers through her pink tresses; Orochimaru was still looking at her with an eerie smile that made her toes curl and insides squirm. She forced a bored look onto her face when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Oh, Sakura-chan, it's a real treat for you to grace us with your lovely presence."

She rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip.

"Cut out the pleasantries, _Tojiro-san_, what do you want?" Many servants gasped at the gall of the pink haired woman to dare utter Orochimaru's family name, even Sasuke and his…_team _were surprised. They all locked their gazes onto the courageous young woman.

The snake-sannin glowered dangerously at his last name, but recovered quickly, his pale lips turned upwards into a knowing smirk, he interlaced his fingers and rested them under his chin and leaned back.

"Why, I think you know what—"

"I'm not joining sound." Sakura interrupted.

"Such a talented medic, like yourself—"

"No."

"Could heal—"

"Never."

"My arms—"

"Not happening."

"And help—"

"Nope."

"—our cause."

"Are you hard of hearing?!" she roared, startling many occupants of the room. "I'd rather die than join you!" she screeched, her breathing becoming laboured as she tried to calm herself down.

Orochimaru removed all pretences and scowled down at her, his golden irises glowed with anger and flared his nostrils, his eyes closed momentarily. "Very well." He sneered, clicking his long fingers together, his eyes opened. "Your wish is my command."

And out stepped Kabuto.

Sakura became deathly still as his rimmed glasses came into view, reflecting mysteriously when the dim light hit his spectacles, his form could be described as casual, but looks are deceiving as she knew that his façade could drop in a heartbeat. He greeted her as if they were long lost friends.

"Long time no see, Sakura-san; it's a shame we had to meet in a situation like this." He lifted his arms and sent chakra into his hands, creating a scalpel. "This won't hurt…much." He smiled.

* * *

_Sakura's eyes began to dilate as the foreign substance that was administered earlier started to take effect, her head was thrown back as pain soared through veins. She tugged ruthlessly at the leather straps that held her unwilling to the cold probing table._

_A flash of red appeared at the corner of her sight, but it was gone before she could comprehend on what it was._

"_Now, now, Sakura-san, we don't want you hurting yourself, by trying to escape." He was at her side in an instant and re-adjusted the restraints, making them more un-believably tighter than before. _

_A shrill scream was her response. _

_He snapped his eyes to her and smiled, slipping on a pair of rubber gloves. She watched in horror as he lifted a syringe labelled: Uchiha Sasuke and trembled. As soon as she saw the substance she knew exactly what it was. _

"_Aww, don't look so frightened Sakura-san, this won't hurt…much." _

_She screamed bloody murder as he spread her legs apart. _

* * *

"_Kabuto…"_ she hissed with as much venom as she could muster.

* * *

_Naruto turned towards a heavily pregnant Sakura as they both stood before the gates of cloud country, his bright blue eyes suddenly lost most of their intensity as he eyed his best friend._

"_Sakura-chan…please…there must be another way…" he pleaded, his eyes searching hers. _

_She smiled lightly and brought her hand up to caress his marked cheeks; her expression didn't reach her eyes as she removed her hand away from his face. _

"_You know that Danzou and the elders will have my head if they find out whose baby I'm carrying, not even Tsunade-shisou can protect me, this is the only way." She summarised as she patted her swollen stomach and settled there. _

_The blonde blinked away tears that threatened to spill and covered his warm large hands over her smaller, dainty ones that were still placed on her bump. A smile tugged at his lips as he felt the baby kick determinedly at where he placed his hands._

"_The little man knows who his future Hokage is." He grinned proudly, his voice was rougher than before, and there was no doubt that he's trying to lighten the mood_

"_Or maybe he recognises a dobe when he feels one." Sakura mused, humorously._

_Naruto noticeably stilled, his eyes softened as Sakura followed his gaze to the cloudless sky._

"_Just like his father."_

* * *

Sakura crouched low into an offensive stance and snarled viciously, baring her teeth like a wild animal, most of the room flinched—excluding Sasuke, instead his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched. Her eyes became slightly crazed as he got into his stance as well; she snarled again and spoke through her bared teeth.

"_You're a dead man." _And so she pounced.

She was on him in an instant, launching into a savage series of kicks and punches. His annoying habit of escaping in the nick of time only fuelled her rage as he dodged most of her attacks. His chakra scalpel slowly faded when he noticed that she was giving him no openings for attack, so now he put his hand-to-hand to use. He grabbed an incoming leg and hauled her away from him, making her body slam into floor.

What he didn't expect was for her to turn into a puff of smoke.

He looked up and saw a glowing fist heading his way and hastily jumped a couple of feet from the attack. His eyes widened as her fist slammed into the floor creating vibrations that followed his every move, large chunks of the floor cracked and were headed straight for him—debris and dust were flying everywhere when he attempted to jump out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough, the floor engulfed his body.

Team Hebi could only look in awe—Satoshi puffed out his cheeks and looked concerned when he thought that his mother was hurt.

Sakura stepped into her mini crater and tried to survey the damage, as the debris and dust settled, all there was to be found was a splintered log, which was suppose to be Kabuto's disembodied limbs. She scowled as he too stepped into her crater—looking dishevelled.

He clapped mockingly, pretending that he wasn't fearful at the deadly fists that belonged to the small woman. "You are full of surprises Sakura-san."

She ground her teeth together and began to make familiar hand signs and whispered, "Kirigakure no Jutsu."**(1)** A thick mist formed inside the chamber blinding everyone, but Sakura. She closed her eyes and focused, cursing when more sparks of chakra entered the area she was fighting, more lackeys to protect the coward.

Her hands were brought up into a tiger seal, then horse, rabbit, rat and finally dog, the movement was so fast that it was barely readable. "Shosen Jutsu."**(2)** Her palms began to glow a bright green as she disappeared, only to reappear infront of two opponents, before they could even think, they were silenced forever, donning two blows to the heart.

The fallen shinobi fell to the floor with a loud _thump_, making everyone alert and on defense.

She quickly dealt with the other dozen subordinates, now trying to locate Kabuto.

Someone cursed loudly and hissed something incoherent. Suddenly a great blast of wind came rushing towards her; she was sent back a couple of meters as the mist cleared. Kabuto flashed infront of her and kicked the ground, sending dirt into her eyes. He took advantage of her temporary blindness, withdrawing a kunai and making it descend towards her chest.

She caught his arm when the sharp point was in touching distance and snapped his wrist making him drop the kunai, he yelped when the ex-kunoichi tightened her grip on his broken bone and launched his other hand towards her; she caught that one as well and snapped his other one.

Sakura spoke calmly, "These hands of yours only bring pain to whomever you inflict upon."

She sent her chakra through Kabuto's hands and arms and brought her lips to his ear as his eyes widened. "Never again."

And then she shattered every bone in his arm—including hands and fingers.

The occupants winced as Kabuto screamed.

Karin covered her hand over Satoshi's innocent eyes when the final blow was only moments away.

Sakura raised the kunai that Kabuto dropped earlier; the pointed edge was diving towards his heart.

Gasps were heard and Satoshi bit into Karin's hand. "OW!" she shrieked, twitching in pain as he blew his bangs away from his eyes to have a clear view.

Sakura halted her movement and quickly turned around when she felt someone appear behind her, it was too late.

She dropped the kunai when Orochimaru plunged his sword through her stomach.

* * *

"NO!!!" Satoshi screamed, his eye's turning liquid red.

* * *

Everyone was in stunned silence.

"…No way…" Suigetsu whispered, shocked.

"_Sharingan…"_ Orochimaru hissed in delight, a new gleam filled his eyes as he licked his lips greedily at Satoshi, now retracting his sword from Sakura's body. Her eyes were slightly glazed over when she coughed a mouthful of blood into her hands, wincing painfully. While the snake-sannin stalked towards Satoshi, Sakura placed a glowing hand over her—thankfully non fatal wound and partially healed it.

Before Orochimaru could get to her son, she appeared infront of Karin and grabbed Satoshi.

She didn't dare look at Sasuke—who drew his Kusanagi towards Orochimaru when she teleported out of the sound base.

* * *

Sakura had been running with Satoshi for hours and her tired legs gave under as she fell into an open clearing, her son stirred for a couple of seconds before falling back asleep. She settled him into a bundle of leaves and slid down a tree beside him, tucking a loose hair behind her ear.

The canopy of trees shaded the couple as the mid-day sun burned brightly, this was the first time that Sakura was outside in so many days, she revelled in the sun's rays and allowed her eyes to close momentarily, her ears perked up at the sound of rustled leaves and now knew that she wasn't alone.

"Come out, Sasuke." she said, opening her eyes.

The Uchiha silently entered the clearing, blood splattered all over his clothes, she looked over his form as she stood warily, protectively placing herself infront of her son.

He became rigid as he looked at Satoshi with pure disgust, as if he were the plague.

Sasuke's bangs hid his face as he shook violently, his hands were balled into fists and his knuckles were turning white at the force.

"…Why?" he finally said.

He looked up, sharingan blazing while Sakura stiffened at his burning gaze.

Before she knew what was happening, Sasuke was infront of her, pinning her body to a tree—away from her child. His chest heaved heavily against hers; she winced when his stomach brushed against her earlier wound—Satoshi was surprisingly still asleep.

"You hate me so much, that you'd do this to me?!" he hissed, the Tomoe's in his sharingan spinning wildly.

She looked livid at his accusation and shoved his chest away from her. "Do you think I _planned_ this to happen?!" her eyes flashed warningly.

"You—" she interrupted him, raising her voice.

"Do you have any _idea_ on what _that_ man put me through, huh?!"

He clenched his teeth, biting back the words he wanted to say. Sakura laughed without humour.

"No, you don't because while you were hell bent on power, I was on my own, looking after a child, away from my home, away from my family and away from my friends! I was sixteen, Sasuke, _sixteen!_"

Sasuke promptly shut his mouth as she began to taunt him, by now tears were prickling her eyes as she stormed past him.

"Go on! Call me a whore, say that I've tainted the Uchiha name, tell me that I disgust you! I don't care anymore!"

_The truth is hiding in your eyes._

The Uchiha closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, thinking things over.

"…it wasn't consensual…?" he said carefully, still looking at Sakura with burning red orbs.

_And it's hanging on your tongue._

Tears poured down her eyes freely as she wiped her face furiously. "Of course it wasn't!"

Liquid fire poured through Sasuke's veins at the recent information, his mouth went dry and for a moment he stopped breathing.

_Just boiling in my blood._

He looked over to a broken Sakura and bared his teeth, growling dangerously. His eyes squeezed tight as burning rage clouded his mind, he turned to exit the clearing and in a deadly whisper he hissed...

"Itachi!"

Sakura blinked away her tears and looked bewildered at the fallen leaves that Sasuke left in his wake. She looked over at a sleeping Satoshi and put the pieces of the puzzle together, her eyes became horrified.

_But you think that I can't see._

"Oh no…"

* * *

End of chap 4, twas my b-day the other day so I decided to borrow my sisters laptop to update :D I'm pants at writing fight scenes and this chapter was abit awkward for me to write, cause it's not my kind of writing style—the whole story is not my style XD but i'm trying and hopefully it's good so far! I have to agree with reviewer's that Sasuke IS acting kind of fatherly already :P (well not anymore!) and Satoshi is kind of abnormally friendly to everyone, but I based his character on my baby cousin, he's too social for his own good damnit TwT. This story is an AU

**(1) **Hidden Mist Technique. **(2) **Mystical palm technique.

Thank you to all reviewers and a special thanks to **Nameless Blossom **and **TeenageCrisis **for the idea's and hints to this chappie :)

hopefully more info was put into this chapter xP I don't think Oro has a last name, but I saw it on a webpage and nabbed it, I'm still in need of a new computer :( it could be half way during the month or the end, I have no freaking clue. (cruel world)

Read and Review :)


	5. The Fallen

**Live for Life**

_'Just because you were hurt, doesn't mean you shouldn't bleed_

_I can be anyone, anything_

_I promise I can be what you need.'- Secondhand serenade._

* * *

Satoshi woke up to faint sobs that were echoing the surrounding canopy of trees; he sat up groggily and scrunched up his little nose in bewilderment. What the…?Where was the crying coming from? His dark green eyes lazily scanned the area as he stretched his small arms and yawned loudly. His eyes became wide as he looked around frantically, Sakura was no where in sight.

He was scared.

A worried outburst came from him, lips quivering as he called out in a small voice. "O-oka-san?" he cried, bringing a shaking hand to his face, by now, tears were falling freely.

"Oka-san…Oka-san…Oka-san!"

His choking sobs alerted someone. The mysterious crying ceased abruptly and Satoshi spoke up again. "…O-oka-san?"

Sakura emerged from behind a tree and stilled when she saw her son awake, she quickly whipped out a smile that didn't seem to reach her moist eyes and quickly padded—barefoot to where he sat, she bent down and let him crawl into her awaiting arms. Satoshi sniffed and buried his face into Sakura's chest; she hugged him tightly and placed a kiss on the top of his head.

"Gomen…Satoshi-kun, gomen." She whispered, rocking him back and forth.

Satoshi only buried himself deeper.

"Were you scared?"

Satoshi nodded tentatively and Sakura sighed out another apology—tucking a loose strand of pink locks behind her ear.

"Can you forgive me?" she asked.

Her son lifted his head and blinked away the moisture that coated his eyes; his stare bore into hers and nodded his head again. Sakura's response was a painful smile.

"This…This past week…it's just a glitch Satoshi-kun, a messed-up glitch, everything will be back to normal again…I promise…let's…let's just forget everything that's happened, ne?" her fingers unconsciously brushed the scar that was on her stomach, she softened her eyes. "Can you do that for your Oka-san?"

Satoshi opened his mouth, but closed it soon after in confusion. _'Forget S-sas-uke?_'

He looked into his mothers pleading eyes. "Please?" she whispered.

"H-hai."

* * *

"Where is _he?_" Sasuke said in a deadly whisper, tightening his grip round an un-familiar neck.

Screw laying low. He wanted answers now.

The man in question squeezed his eye's shut as sweat rolled down his wrinkled fore-head, oxygen was now out of the question and he could feel his face turning blue. The crowd's buzz turned into hush whisper's, even the drunkards became silent.

"I…don't…know!" He choked.

The crowd gasped as Sasuke seethed at the un-fortunate person. "Old men shouldn't tell lies."

"I'm not lying!"

"He's just an old man! Let him go!" A brunette barmaid confidently ordered. No sooner had she spoken did she shrink back into her hole when Sasuke growled at her.

"Back off…"

"She's…right!" The Uchiha snapped his attention back to the man. "Just…let me…g-go! I don't…know…where your…b-brother is!" He rasped painfully.

"He's not my brother!" Sasuke hissed, giving the man another squeeze of the neck.

"Spare me!"

"Spare you? Do you think Itachi spared her?! Huh?!" He roughly dropped the fragile man onto the floor, rage clouding his mind.

'_Foolish little brother.' _

Sasuke seethed and nearly doubled-over.

'_You should have seen her face.' _

He slammed his eyes shut, the infamous cursed-seal crawling its way round his skin.

'_She cried. She screamed. She pleaded for me to stop.'_

Sasuke clutched his head in pain.

'_My dear little brother…it was beautiful…' _

"Arghh!" Sasuke roared as he awakened his sharingan.

A curdling scream escaped from the old man's lips.

* * *

_As Sakura vanished in a flourish of cherry blossoms, Sasuke drew his sword towards an incoming Orochimaru. His jaw clenched tightly, lungs tightening as Satoshi's haunting eyes remained imprinted into his mind, that child was…it was…He couldn't bare thinking about it. Sasuke heaved, desperately drinking in as much air as possible, trying to steady his stance in the process._

_He was hyperventilating. He knew it. Orochimaru knew it. Everyone knew it. _

"_What are you doing Sasuke?!" _

_Sasuke ignored the sannin and breathed carefully, his lungs now burning. He turned to his team. "Go." He ordered, teeth clenched tightly. They all nodded cautiously and vanished in a poof of smoke—no questions asked. _

_He needed to breathe. Orochimaru was obviously at his weakest but this didn't mean he would underestimate him, he was sure that there must be one last trick up his sleeve that he _didn't _know about._

"_I knew this would happen sooner or later." His teacher hissed angrily to himself, venom hanging off every syllable. Sasuke made no sign of recognition and eyed his teacher with a blank look. Orochimaru wasted no time and transformed into his true form, a giant white serpent—his past body lay motionless on the floor, merely a vessel for this monster to reside. The snake loomed over his student with deathly poise, fangs gleaming mercilessly. _

_He wasn't even sure if he could call it a snake, It's ugly scales were none other than other heads of snakes, hissing like it's master, coiling it's heads to intimidate the Uchiha. In hidden disgust, Sasuke forced a blank face when eyeing this creature._

'_I should have guessed.' Sasuke thought bitterly, tilting his head up to get a good look at the monster._

"_You're not ready to fight me you fool! That bastard child still has you shaken up!" _

_Sasuke's eyes automatically flashed red at the mention of Satoshi; he gritted his teeth again and prepared for the incoming assault that was moments away. _

"_Give me your body!" _

_The snake sannin began its attack. _

* * *

Sakura suddenly lurched forward and coughed a mouthful of blood onto the grassy field, she was brought to her knees as she clutched the—now blood soaked grass strands with a painful expression on her face.

'_Shit! I forgot about the poison!' _

She brought her hand to her mouth and wiped the crimson liquid that was dribbling down her chin and inwardly scolded herself for not noticing sooner. Sakura shakily stood and darted her eyes to her son and was thankful that he was busy playing with a butterfly that perched itself on his nose, he giggled and started to babble animatedly to the creature.

Sakura felt kind of bad for bursting his strange, little bubble. "C'mon sweetie, we need to get home before it gets dark." _'And I need medical attention.' _

Satoshi lifted his head at the voice and made a face when the pretty butterfly left his nose; he looked at his mom and stood clumsily. Sakura smiled softly and hid the pain that was stirring in her chest, and doubted if it was just the poison, she walked over to him and propped him onto her back, letting his feet dangle at her sides.

Soft fluttering noises came from the back of the clearing as Sakura focused chakra into the soles of her feet; she was pre-occupied with thoughts and didn't pay attention to the subtle vibrations and charge quickly through the trees. Satoshi however did pick up the noise and turned his head slightly, his eyes widened in wonderment.

Not one, but a whole swarm of delicate butterflies danced around his eyes like a visual lullaby, the beautiful creatures twisted and circled each other, blue wings interlocking their partners in a wave of magical colours. Satoshi smiled gleefully and the creatures swirled.

"_Caw!"_

The winged beauties started to scatter in distress, there, amongst the trance-like scenery was a lone raven, cawing boldly. Alarmed, the panic-stricken butterflies fled in fear and dispersed to the south of where they were—the strange raven watching ominously. The bird was beautiful. Its onyx wings were outstretched in a predatory fashion, ready to begin its flight and compared to the other birds that hid cowardly in the trees, this one was beyond impressive.

However, Satoshi was not impressed.

He puffed out his cheeks and attempted to scowl at the stupid bird for scaring the pretty butterflies away, the raven ignored the child's gaze and pecked abnormally at the branch that it was perched on. Seeing that he was being ignored by the weird bird, Satoshi gave a final look and turned his head to rest it on his mothers back.

But the strangest thing was that the single raven now had its cold emotionless orbs locked on to an un-suspecting Satoshi.

It must be a sign.

* * *

"Shit Suigetsu! He's barely alive!" Karin hollered as she checked a bloodied old man, hidden in a secluded bush.

The sharp toothed criminal sighed to himself. "…Sasuke…why do you choose now_—_of all times, to go on a psychotic rampage? This is definitely not helping the bags under my eyes…"

Karin balled her hands into a fist and bonked him on the head. "Ugh, this is serious! Help me out here and tell us what we should do!"

Suigetsu shrugged and adjusted the massive sword on his back. "I dunno." and walked off.

She glared at his back and turned to a silent Juugo. "Juugo?"

"Blood…blood…"

Well, _shit. _

* * *

_He looked at his own ruffled form and grunted. His clothes were thankfully still intact except that the once white obi was now a rusted red colour. It was blood of course—but mostly not his own. He took another look at the blood and then glanced upwards. Each strike that Orochimaru made were becoming more sluggish, he doubted if his teacher had much left to give. _

_He hid a dark grin. _

" _Perhaps the world at large would consider you gifted, but you're no where near the level of an Uchiha." Sasuke chuckled without humour. " And you're attempts to obtain our powers are so disgusting, they're almost funny."_

"_Big words, from the leftover Uchiha!" The giant serpent lunged at the disrespectful brat. Sasuke dodged the attack quickly and started again. _

"_You claim to seek the reason behind existence, but all you do is make petty excuses for playing God with peoples lives." _

_Sasuke's mind tumbled into a flashback. _

_-x-_

_An 8 year old boy was brought to his knees, horrified at the scene before him. Blood…it was everywhere, corpses everywhere , the lingering smell of death everywhere. His father lay slumped over his mother, trying in vain to protect his loved one, his mother. It was futile as a katana embedded both of them, pinning them to floor, as if they were mere animals hanging from pins in a slaughter house. They were not animals. They were Uchiha's. _

_His parents. His family. _

_Racking sobs engulfed the child after the shock had subsided, he wept and wept. Feeling that there was no end to this nightmare, his heart pumped rapidly and his breathing couldn't keep up. He choked and hiccupped, letting his eyes fall upon the real animal. _

"_Brother…why…?" _

_Itachi turned his attention to his little brother, he face was blank and his eyes were, cold, merciless and emotionless. Like he was not human. _

_And in the best nonchalance voice, he replied. "To test my capability." _

_-x- _

_He reeled back into reality._

"_You wanted to take over other peoples bodies so badly, you even experimented on your own…" Sasuke was un-able to finish his sentence, the serpent bared his fangs, it's eyes turning to liquid gold, no pupils, no nothing. The Uchiha's world plummeted into darkness._

_He cracked open an eye. _

_Faces was all he could see. Past vessels that lay abandoned in this wet, dark and cryptic place, but no Orochimaru. He looked left, then right, then back again. Nope, nothing. _

"_You're in my domain, boy, there's no escape!" Ah, there he is. And with sickening fascination, he watched on as Orochimaru emerged from the many faces, his body covered in slime and God knows what else. The sannin's tongue hanged out hungrily as he cackled. _

"_This is where the soul-transfer technique happens! It's already started! Kukuku. Your mine Sasuke-kun. Mine, mine, mine!" Sasuke tensed up at the information, then relaxed, even closing his eyes, allowing a satisfactory smirk to cross his features as his sharingan made easy work of his former teacher's jutsu. _

_Yes former. _

_The curse seal activated and Orochimaru looked horrified. "No! No! No!" He screamed._

_Sasuke opened his mouth and murmured. "Though the snake dreams…of soaring through the sky, it is forever doomed…" _

_He opened his eyes to reveal the sharingan locked on to Orochimaru's form, the sannin screamed again as the Tomoe's in his eyes spun wilder than ever. _

"…_To crawl on his belly." _

_The mighty snake had fallen. _

* * *

Coal eyes narrowed into slits, as a chilling breeze swept past camp. His gaze moved from his unconscious team mate to the ominous-looking woods, it was quiet. Too quiet, eerily quiet and the sun that was laying low on the horizon was threatening to disappear at any moment, leaving them in darkness, un-settling him more.

"Something's not right." He finally spoke.

His other companion looked up at the voice— with a soaked cloth in hand and stopped what she was doing.

"Eh?"

"Something's not right." He repeated.

In response the girl made an 'o' shape with her mouth and looked into the slowly growing darkness of the woods, her ears perked up and tried to sense vibrations, but couldn't find anything out of place. Blonde brows furrowed in confusion. She stood and dusted the dirt off her clothes, settling the cool cloth on her unconscious team mate and strolled calmly to the man that sat sluggishly at the stump of a nearby tree.

She sat crossed-legged beside him and groaned slightly when the bark dug into her sore back muscles.

"You're being paranoid again, I can't hear anything strange." She said reassuringly, flipping her long blonde locks over her shoulder.

"That's exactly my point, Ino." He paused. "It's too quiet. Not even the animals are making noise. There's something out there. I can feel it."

Ino sighed and cupped her face with one of her perfectly manicured hands, her piercing blue eyes slanted sideways to look at her friend in a disapproving manner.

"Have you ever thought that maybe the cute little bunny rabbits and squirrels are taking a nap, y'know? With it being hibernating season and all that jazz..."

Before the genius could respond, the blonde silenced him.

"Maybe you should take a sticky-note from their book, Shika and rest."

The Nara rolled his lazy eyes and chided the girl beside him. "Don't you mean a 'leaf' out of their book and not a 'sticky-note'?"

"Mou...it's the same thing! What I'm trying to say is that you're over-working yourself like a crazy person! Do you even know how weird it is to tell you—out of all people to go and sleep?"

"I know." He chuckled, placing a cigarette between his lips—about to light up.

Ino miraculously slipped the lighter between her fingers as Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. _'How did she get a hold of that?'_

"Allow me." She flicked the lighter and the flames glowed calmly, illuminating both their features, Shikamaru lowered his head slightly as Ino moved a little closer.

"Look, the mission was a success, Chouji will be back on his feet by tomorrow, me and you weren't injured, what is there to be un-settled about hmm? Just sleep easy okay? It can be quite grating when you over analyse things." The cigarette was lit and Ino flipped back the cap of the lighter, she stood and stretched as Shikamaru took a long drag.

"Alright, alright...what a drag..."

Ino smiled and looked wistfully at the smoke and took another glance at the lazy genius. "Remember...Asuma-sensei is with us. So everything will be okay." With this said she winked and went back to tend to a silent Chouji.

Shikamaru echoed her words. "Everything will be okay."

How wrong they were.

* * *

"Did you hear? Uchiha Sasuke is looking for Itachi!"

* * *

"It was so frightening! He's been going through each town harassing and threatening the locals to give him information!"

* * *

"I didn't know he could be so bold, shouldn't good ninja's dwell in the shadows? Che! Akatsuki is probably after him now."

* * *

He blinked slowly, while Sakura gave him another piece of fresh banana to stuff into his cute face. He wasn't stupid. He knew his mom was hurting. Maybe for different reasons, but still, she was hurting, bad. His dark green eyes locked on to her light ones and frowned, why was she hiding her sadness? He loved her so much, shouldn't that be enough to fill her sadness?

Maybe it's because of this past week. Sure, he was having a great time with Sasuke, but what was she doing? When he finally saw his mother in that cramped room, he didn't notice anything strange, she was fairly dirty and smelt a bit off, but that's about all he could remember before he happily fell asleep, leaving her and Sasuke alone.

Sasuke.

Who was he? There was a strange pull to him that he couldn't quite understand. Again, he wasn't stupid, he knew that he and Sasuke had an uncanny resemblance that his mother never mentioned or questioned.

Satoshi unconsciously brushed his face with his hand.

He wanted to question it. But so many words and questions filled his small head, he couldn't speak out any of them. What could he say? What did he want to say?

The small boy ruffled his dark locks in frustration.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"…Face…face," He touched his face to emphasise his point. "—suke!…look, face."

A guilty look crossed Sakura's features, she clearly didn't understand the point he was trying to make.

"Say it again, sweetie?" she urged.

Satoshi made a low grumble in his throat and sighed, popping a slice of banana into his mouth, chewing carefully.

Sasuke would have understood him.

* * *

His breath ripped out into rags as he slid down a sturdy rock that stood out abnormally from the —now lacklustre forest. Trees that once stood dominantly, full of natural life and beauty was now charred to wilting crisps. Flames still burned ferociously, slowly draining every piece life of the forest. Everything was dieing.

Sasuke could of put an end to his destructive jutsu. _But he didn't want to_.

Instead he darkly looked on, eyeing the flames with a hateful expression on his face. He was just so _angry_. He couldn't stop being so _angry. _Blood continued to boil, never giving him a break from all this pent up _anger._

Sasuke growled, fisting his hands into the bladed grass.

The curse mark refused to recede. The deathly coils of the tattoo still continued to crawl around his skin, from his run in with that old man. His heart clenched painfully and the flames that were dieing down, now became more vigorous than ever, it's destructive path carried on.

It was all _his _fault.

The curse mark glowered, in agreement and whispered dreadful nothing's into his minds ear. Sakura. The mention of her name made the seal hissed possessively. His cherry blossom. _His. _Not Itachi's. _His. _

She was truly magnificent and no doubt a student of the great Tsunade. Her beauty, her strength, even her temper, they were _all _his_. _His mind flew back to when Sakura's glowing fist erupted the floor beneath her, crumbling it into tiny, shattered pieces. A satisfied growl came from him, so strong, so powerful, so _perfect_. She could of completed him, she could have been his yang, his soul mate, his _partner_.

But Itachi always had to destroy what was his.

He wanted her to forget all the touches, the bruises and the pain that Itachi caused. To forget them all, only for then to be replaced with his touches, his kisses, his love.

_Love? _Sasuke chuckled darkly. Love was meaningless to an avenger, it's a path that must be walked on alone, no one to tell you what to do, no one to sugar coat everything in the world and most importantly, no one to _stop _you. Hate is the only emotion that should consume you, and he admits that when he was young, naïve and stupid, he had his fair tastes of love. Nothing deep, just a touch on its large perimeter.

He shook his head, dark bangs hovering over his blank eyes and silently repeated the mantra that made him only depend on himself.

_Because…in the end, you will always be alone. _

In the flame filled surroundings, a familiar creature watched the whole scene, its beady eyes turned from frigid to alert, its beak opened in agonizing slowness, flapping its raven wings at the same time.

"_Caw!" _

* * *

End of chapter 5. This update took ages, I know :) I finally got a new computer, but it didnt come with microsoft word, so now I had to rewrite most of my stuff on microsoft _works. _It's crap, but I guess I have to deal with it so uhm..yea XD

Orochimaru is dead, but I really HATE writing fight scenes, because simply, i'm crap at them :( so I try to stay well clear from fight scenes, I was tearing my hair out my head when I was writing Sakura's fight with Kabuto, so that's why Orochimaru and Sasuke's 'fight' wouldn't really classify as a fight :)

So Sasuke is really mad and with his curse mark still on him I want him to be become more animalistic and predatory, I guess it's gonna be like he has two different personalities bla bla bla. So if he is OOC (even though he is now, kinda...) you know why. The butterflies were chouji's if anyone guessed and team 10 will be quite important later on kukukuku...

And yes last chapter I used lyrics from Paramore- decode its a seriously awesome song. Special thanks to: **bLueLOvEspiNK** ( for a really lovely review) also thanks for everybody's contributions ( Especially **Tiger Priestess** and **Nameless Blossom **) Got buckets to put into later chapters! :D

Itachi will make his grand entrance next chapter! omgomgomg!

Dont forget to review now! :) R&R


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